But if things were as he imagined, then he needed an explanation from Fane.
Looking at the solemn Odin, Heimdall walked toward the Bifrost activation device with his longsword, looking slightly worried.
Meanwhile, Fane, who had been waiting in Svartalfheim, hadn't even crossed paths with the Dark Elves yet. Instead, he was greeted by the Bifrost descending from the sky.
Fane never expected things to turn out this way. If he had known Jane would choose to enter the sealed land again and just happen to be discovered by Heimdall, he would have made sure Jane stayed unconscious for a bit longer, no matter what.
Because his attention was entirely focused on controlling the Aether, and because he hadn't expected Asgard to be so fast--finding him even before the Dark Elves did--he didn't dodge the Bifrost's transport.
As a result, when he arrived in Asgard and saw Odin and Heimdall standing before him, his face was filled with utter astonishment.
"Ahem, well, long time no see!"
Seeing Odin's solemn gaze, Fane knew something must have gone wrong, and he couldn't help but feel a pang of regret for his carelessness.
In fact, less than six hours had passed since he obtained the Aether. Fane figured that no matter how fast the Dark Elves acted, it would take them some time to fly their spaceship there, which was why he had been so uninhibitedly trying to master the Aether.
As for Heimdall, he had considered him too, thinking that as long as he felt his gaze, he would just mask it in time. Given their relationship, even if Heimdall was a little puzzled, he certainly wouldn't press charges over his sudden arrival in Svartalfheim.
However, he had overestimated his perception without Incursio and under the interference of the Aether. Let alone a gaze, he didn't even manage to dodge the Bifrost transport.
In truth, he also knew it was unrealistic to keep Asgard completely in the dark.
But he had thought Asgard wouldn't notice until the Dark Elves showed up at the very least. He never expected Asgard to find him before a single shadow of a Dark Elf could even be seen.
Looking at the awkward Fane, Odin stepped closer to examine Fane's body carefully. His expression grew increasingly grave, and he said coldly, "There is a powerful energy inside you. As expected, you stole the Aether!"
Since he had been found out, Fane accepted it calmly and said, "Don't put it so harshly, it was an accident!"
Just then, Thor's pleasantly surprised voice suddenly echoed from afar:
"Fane?!"
It turned out that when Thor wanted to show Jane around Asgard to admire the scenery, he happened to run into his mother, Frigga. This woman, who had single-handedly raised Fane's impression of Asgard, didn't share Odin's aversion or rejection toward Jane.
On the contrary, she warmly welcomed Jane's arrival and immediately took over the task of taking care of her and showing her around Asgard from Thor.
Knowing how much weight his mother's words carried with Odin, Thor wanted to take this opportunity to let his girlfriend spend more time with his mother to secure a good relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law early on. Furthermore, he believed Jane would definitely win his mother's favor.
So, ignoring Jane's subtle hints, he smiled and handed her over to his mother. At the same time, he was also worried about the seal, so he wanted to look for Odin to get a clearer picture of the situation.
But upon discovering that Odin wasn't in the royal palace, he decided to come and ask Heimdall about the situation, only to unexpectedly run into Fane.
At the same time, Thor noticed that his All-Father, whom he had been looking for, was also here. Looking at the three individuals with solemn expressions, he couldn't help but feel a little confused, but he still asked Fane first, "How did you get here?"
Fane shrugged, looked at Odin, and replied, "You'll have to ask His Majesty for that!"
"Father?!"
Thor looked at Odin in confusion.
But Odin didn't answer Thor. Instead, he stared at Fane and asked, "Why did you touch the seal of the Aether? You already have enough divine artifacts on you."
Setting aside how Loki had obtained the Mind Stone for now, in order to foster good relations with Kamar-Taj, Odin had not hesitated to gift the Space Stone to Fane.
Furthermore, he was secretly shocked that Fane could collect so many Infinity Stones without suffering any consequences, which made him suspect whether this was related to Fane's unique nature of being un-prophesiable.
"The Aether?!"
Thor asked at first with a look of confusion, but then he seemed to realize something, frowning as he muttered, "The seal..."
Although Heimdall didn't know either, he understood his station, so he simply listened in silence without uttering a word.
"I said, it was an accident. It entered my body on its own!"
Fane could openly tell Ancient One and Tony that he was looking for the Reality Stone, but he didn't have that level of trust with anyone else, especially the already prejudiced Odin.
Though Thor looked a bit thick, he wasn't actually stupid. Based on Odin's words, coupled with his deep understanding of Fane's abilities, he quickly guessed a possibility: "The one who held Jane and sent her back to Earth was you?"
Although Fane didn't understand why Thor's expression looked a bit strange when saying the first part of his sentence, he still replied using the excuse he had prepared long ago:
"I was in London earlier studying the boundary points of the Convergence. Jane and her friends happened to arrive at that time. I didn't want to expose myself, so I turned invisible, but then I noticed she was being sucked into a spatial rift, so I quickly followed her."
"And then this thing entered my body. Because I didn't want her to know too much, I put her to sleep for a bit and sent her back to Earth."
This was the phrasing Fane had come up with from the very beginning. He had been wearing Incursio back then and was absolutely certain that Heimdall hadn't been watching, so this excuse was practically seamless.
"Then why did you hug her?"
But Thor's interrogation left Fane dazed for a moment, and he rolled his eyes in exasperation before replying, "If I didn't hold her, was I supposed to just watch her crash straight onto the ground?"
Thor was left somewhat speechless. Although he understood a bit, judging by his expression, he still seemed a little conflicted.
Odin didn't care whether Fane held Jane or not. He stared intently at Fane and asked, "Are you saying that the Aether entered your body of its own accord, rather than you breaking the seal?"
"That's Asgard's seal, right? Whether I touched it or not, you can go see for yourselves!"
Fane spoke with absolute confidence. He wasn't sure how the Aether had gotten out, but he hadn't damaged the seal in the slightest.
Odin had already inspected the seal and knew it had loosened due to its ancient age. Therefore, while he believed Fane's words to some extent, he didn't fully trust them.
Because for some reason, he felt this was far too coincidental.
However, he had no evidence at the moment, and Fane wasn't an ordinary human from Earth like Jane whom he could easily manipulate. Thus, he could only say:
"The Aether is a highly dangerous weapon. Its massive energy will destroy your body, and if you attempt to use it, it will continuously drain your life force!"
"I know!"
Fane nodded. Even though not much time had passed, he had already figured these things out from his own research. Thus, he asked, "So? Do you have any way to extract it?"
Beside them, after Thor finally moved past the dilemma of hugging versus crashing, he overheard their conversation and couldn't help but ask, "Wait, Father, what exactly is this Aether you're talking about?"